If you’re a feminist, a Danish man IS your dream man. On our street, there was a very large tree down, and as I was walking by that Saturday, I saw a young couple trying to take part of it home.

Work hard for what you want because it won't come to you without a fight.

You have to be strong and courageous and know that you can do anything you put your mind to.

If somebody puts you down or criticizes you, just keep on believing in yourself and turn it into something positive. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong.

It was the latest in long-running series called Father of Four. As the kids grow up, they just replace them with new actors. The oldest sister, who’s about 20, meets a handsome young man with a guitar.

What struck me watching the movie was that the male romantic lead was visibly shorter than the female lead. I’ve asked my Danish male friends, and they say they’re reacting to Danish women.

I’d say at least a couple of centimeters shorter, maybe an inch. Danish women, they say, like to do things for themselves. I mean, I come from a culture where men whistle at beautiful women they don’t know walking down the street.

Now, in Hollywood, they’d have that guy standing on a box, to look taller, or have the actress standing in a hole, to look shorter. This means a lot if you’re a foreign woman dating a Danish man. They don’t want some clown opening the door for them, or helping them carry packages. I get a lot of mail from non-Danish women trying to figure out if the Danish man they’re dating is interested in them. When I first moved to Denmark, I thought I’d stopped hearing whistles because I’d aged out of the whistle target group.

In the Danish film, there was no attempt to hide it. I had to admit, I couldn’t focus on the love scene. In Hollywood – or Bollywood – movies, the male actor is taller because he’s supposed to be in charge, the dominant figure. He is a not a Frenchman who will pursue you to the ends of the earth. My Danish male friends say that after offering to be chivalrous a couple of times and getting turned down in a nasty manner, they don’t want to do that any more. But I’ve since established that beautiful young women don’t get whistled at either. Now, I’m a modern woman, and I like a lot of things about these modern men.

He doesn’t send flowers, he doesn’t buy chocolates. But they can occasionally err a bit on the soft side.

He doesn’t take you in his arms and kiss you until you’re breathless. For example, a few weeks ago, we had a big storm in Denmark, and it knocked down some large trees.

If you are a romance novelist, the Danish man is not your dream man. Before the local government came to collect them, some people were sawing off bits for free firewood, or to make furniture, or other arts and crafts project.